“Pursue the obstacle. It will set you free.” Mark Nepo. That quote of Marks is fitting to begin a new discussion on those things, situations, life experiences that stand in front of your path and appear to be blocking you. Life presents challenges that sometimes seem monumental and other times challenges that are simple to negotiate. I would like to begin this discussion by drawing your attention to the simplest of ideas or it would seem the simplest if we would not confuse what Is and what is made up, you know our stories. When we arrive in this world (that moment of conception) we have no idea that we cannot do a thing, or think a certain way. We are totally free of all obstacles, but then a funny thing begins to occur even before birth. We begin to take on the ideas, concepts, notions, beliefs, attitudes, and assumption of those genetics as well as those humans closes to us. We begin to become what we see, hear, feel, and experience in our environment. We begin to build our stories that we may or may not live with for the rest of our lives. What I mean by that is that some souls have the canny suspicion that what they see, hear, and feel is not the right path and are strong enough to take a different path, while others are not able to make that connection and continue to create the stories they are taught.

I have been walking a path that was predetermined for me long ago and I did not realize it until just recently. What I find so fascinating about this is that once I became aware that I was walking someone else’s path, that path of my families and societies approval, it has taken several years to get off that path. I did not realize how ingrained this programming was nor how difficult it would be to shift paths, especially at 52. Well that mountain that I have been climbing just got a bit steeper the other day. For the purpose of this discussion, I would like to propose that when we are commenting that we stay out of our stories and focus on the journey and what it is that we want to create. Now please don’t get me wrong, we may need to set the foundation and create clarity for the discussion, but we are not going to live in our stories here. That being said I would like to open this up to all of you to help create a fantastically, amazing, place to share your mountains you have concurred and what your life looks like now that you have arrived safe and sound on the other side. As Mark said, those obstacles will set you free.